Tonight's Movie: Fixer Dugan (1939) - A Warner Archive DVD Review

FIXER DUGAN (1939) is the fourth and final film I've reviewed from the Warner Archive's 4-Film Lee Tracy RKO collection.

This time around Tracy plays Charlie "The Fixer" Dugan, who runs a traveling circus. He and lion tamer Aggie (Peggy Shannon, SOCIETY GIRL) end up caring for Terry (Virginia Weidler) when Terry's mother (Rita La Roy) falls to her death off the high wire.

Terry is happy but the powers-that-be who learn of Terry's situation don't believe the circus is a proper environment for a young girl with no parents, and she's sent to an orphanage. Meanwhile, a pair of crooks try to swindle Aggie out of her lions. No one will be surprised to learn that all is put right within the film's 68 minutes.

I wasn't wild about the film's circus setting -- clowns and I don't get along -- but all in all it's still a fairly watchable film thanks to the expert lead actors. Tracy and Weidler are always effective, and it was nice to see Shannon in another film.

Sadly, however, Shannon would die just two years later, a victim of alcoholism. She's buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. A lovely lady who came to a very sad end.

FIXER DUGAN was directed by Lew Landers and filmed by J. Roy Hunt. The supporting cast includes Edward Gargan, Bradley Page, William Edmunds, and Edythe Elliott.

Like the other films in the set, FIXER DUGAN is a good print. There are no extras.

The previously reviewed titles in the set were BEHIND THE HEADLINES (1937), CRIMINAL LAWYER (1937), and CRASHING HOLLYWOOD (1938). This was a fun collection, and I hope there will be more sets with RKO "B's" coming in the future!

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this DVD collection. Warner Archive releases are MOD (manufactured on demand) and may be ordered from the Warner Archive Collection at the WBShop.